


Cabin

by gouguruheddo



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Domestic, M/M, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 11:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12794004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gouguruheddo/pseuds/gouguruheddo
Summary: The war is won, and Erwin and Levi live out deep in the woods.





	Cabin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zeds_Dead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeds_Dead/gifts).



> A little late for my lovely Zed's birthday, but I hope you enjoy anyway. <3

Their first winter is when they are cornered with the bitter realization that they are not carpenters.

Levi spends the night of the first frost tirelessly stuffing every draft he finds with all the linens they have. He refuses any grumblings from Erwin as he tries to coax Levi back under the blankets. He asks Levi to at least feed the fire in the fireplace, but Levi refuses to waste any more wood until he solves the insulation problem. Sighs turn to growls, and growls turn to curses. Every dish towel and tablecloth finds a new home between log cracks. Levi claims the last piece of linen, the blanket they shared in Erwin’s quarters so many moons ago, straight off of Erwin’s drowsy body. Like a dragon’s tail, it trails behind Levi as he makes his way to the front door, drops to his knees, and starts shoving the blanket between the crack.

“Levi!” Erwin struggles up onto his one elbow. “Come back to bed!” The commander finds his voice again, and it shakes him more awake than the chill of their cabin. “Please.”

“It’s fucking freezing in here.”

“Then put some more wood on the fire.”

“I said no!”

“I will keep you warm.”

“What, with your one stupid fucking arm?” Levi spits, pushing one last shove to the blanket under the door.

Erwin sits up properly, drops his left hand between his lap and stares at Levi in the dim light of the cabin. “Levi…”

When the war ended, they found themselves through each other. Tangled limbs didn’t end with silence. Pillows became damp with more than sweat. They vowed, they promised, and in the middle of the night, they gathered a bag of things and ran away. Levi took the bolo tie from Erwin and left it on the desk that had claimed too many hours of their lives. Black cloaks over their heads, they ventured out into the world like newborn rabbits--skittish and scared and unsure. For almost a decade they had been slaves to command and structure. When Erwin strayed, when he looked behind him as they rode, Levi grounded him.

“It’s safe,” Levi said. “We’re better off this way. They’re better without us.”

They had no idea what they were doing, but Levi made due. They lived in a tent made of animal hides and cloth, dealt with what little possessions they had being ruined by the elements. Levi had whispered through nightmares, brushed his lips against Erwin’s temples, said so softly that the words almost got drowned away with the rain that pattered on the tent: “I’m here with you.

“I love you.”

He worked hard and built them a home in a few months. Nestled in the middle of trees that had, at one time, given them wings--it was comfortable. Familiar. And most of all--it was theirs.

Quiet affected them both different, though. Life under evergreens did nothing to qualm the nightmares that pursued them even during daylight. Levi was more irritable, spent hours at a time away from the cabin with the excuse of going hunting, but would return many times empty handed and vacant eyed. Erwin was quieter than before, and tended to lose long passages of time in the change of seasons instead of days.

It was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be happy. And they tell themselves they are, because they can say the forbidden words with so much ease that they seem to hold no weight at all. But the silence--the boredom--it came with the need to remember. They’re alive when others are not. They get to have a home and wake up in each other’s arms and enjoy a quiet life. Somehow they had to be complacent with that.

Levi stands up from his spot on the floor, back still turned away from Erwin, and he shuffles off toward the corner where their wash basin sits. He leans on the edge, head bowed and fingers gripping the edges of the bowl. His shoulders shake, and he growls out loud, his throat a bubble of emotion as he croaks out, “I fucked it up.”

Erwin raises an eyebrow and leans forward on the bed. “Darling?”

“Shut up.” Levi spits. He dumps his hands in the cold water of the basin and splashes some on the dry skin of his face. He sighs out and resumes gripping the edge. “Seems obvious now. I’ve never built a damn thing in my whole life.”

“Is that what this is about?”

Levi’s head hangs, and he nods once.

“Levi. I don’t deserve the life you’ve given me.”

Levi’s head tilts.

“This home is the best gift I have ever received.”

“It’s a trash pile.”

“It has its quirks.” Erwin laughs. He moves to the edge of the bed and lets his legs hang off the side. The wooden floorboards are cold under his barefeet, and he sets them there long enough until the wood warms around his body heat. “We’ll go out and collect some branches and fill the cracks in the afternoon.” He smiles at Levi. “Together.”

Levi glares at him. His scowl finds every shadow of the room and paints it harshly across his face. “You don’t care about this at all?”

“No.”

“What if…”

Erwin’s face is soft, soft in the dull light of the fireplace, soft in the flecks of gold that adorn his face from the rising sun. “The only thing I care about is being with you. In this house. Out in these woods and away from…”

“All those nightmares.”

Erwin nods.

Levi takes a few steps toward Erwin. It’s been months, and Levi’s sleep shirt hangs a bit looser around his chest, and Erwin’s shirts don’t button just right. He’s so soft, around his cheeks and his eyes, and every smile is a battle that he wages for Levi because for some reason… Some reason, he finds him worthy. It draws Levi to him to kiss at his forehead and his brows, before Erwin is kissing him back through his clothes. “I promised.”

Erwin sucks in air through his nose and presses his warm lips to the tenderness of Levi’s neck. “You fulfilled it.”

Levi groans as if the wind has been knocked out of him. He bows his head and brings Erwin’s face up to meet his. Their lips meet, faint and slow, but intense like the breaking of dawn. Falling together, Levi’s limbs start to shake less in the heat of Erwin’s arm, and his mouth drops open as his tongue presses against Erwin’s. He pulls back and touches his forehead to Erwin’s cheek. “I’ll put some more wood in.”

Erwin runs his hand down Levi’s back, nods slightly before pecking Levi’s lips again. “Get the smoked sausage too. I think we deserve a nice breakfast this morning.”

Levi tries to leave, but Erwin is so comfortable, and his lips find Erwin’s again. “What did we do?”

“We’re here, aren’t we?”

Levi rolls his eyes and sways away from him. “For a few more days anyway. Until we freeze to death.” He parts away from Erwin and shuffles to their pantry, which is nothing more than a couple of shelves nailed to the wall next to the water basin. The late fall sun peeks through the only window and dances sparkles like snowflakes on his dark hair. “We’ll need to go into town soon anyway.”

Erwin makes a soft noise. Seclusion has affected them, and the suggestion brings along with it a dread much drier than the air in the cabin. “Maybe in a few days.”

“Yeah. Maybe in a few days.” Levi agrees. He gathers two forks, a knife, a plate, and the smoked sausage and walks them over to the fire. He sets them on the floor, then goes and pulls the blanket from the door, settles it in front of the fireplace, and then sticks a few logs into the fireplace. He sits down on the blanket, legs crossed, and begins fussing with their meal, cutting the sausage into pieces and spearing it with a fork. He leans forward and hovers the meat in front of the choking fire. “I’m gonna eat it all if you don’t get your ass over here.”

Erwin studies Levi’s back. His shoulders don’t fill out his shirts as much anymore, and his hair has grown so long that sometimes he pulls it back to keep it out of his eyes. All the scars of their lives still peak out of collars and hems--map out stories that connect like a paper heart ripped in two when they’re naked and pressed to each other. Levi is graceful and beautiful even here, when his power and wit were used to hunt deer and build their home instead of fighting for a goal that they somehow were able to achieve. He’s perfection in every way, and even though the time will pass and he’ll wake time after time after time with sweat across his brow and friends in his dreams… 

At least he has Levi.

“I’m not bringin’ it to you.” Levi grumbles.

Erwin smiles. He steadies himself with his arm before he finally stands from the bed and makes the few strides over to Levi. “I’m perfectly capable.”

Levi swivels his head up, a soft smile on his lips that’s touched by the sun like a peel of an orange. “Could have fooled me.”

Erwin kneels and sits next to Levi. He takes his portion and mimics Levi’s actions, right down to the orangey glow of a grin. He knows that days would appear to repeat. That so many days will end up appearing the same in his memory. But at least these days, they’re alive. 

And at least these days, they’re together.


End file.
